Amusement apparatus.



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O; M. GONNELLY & G. W. RUDOLPH.

AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY14, 1908. 923,334. r Patented June 1, 1909.

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INVENTORS,

Allornay WITNESSES 0. M C(JNNELLY & G W. RUDOLPH. AMUSEMENT APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 14, 190a.

923,334. Patented June 1, 1909.

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IV/ TN/ZSSES UNITED STATES PATENT ()FICE.

OWEN M. CONNELLY AND GEORGE W. RUDOLPH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. June 1, 1909.

Applieation filed July 14, 1908. Serial No. 443,483.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that We, OWEN M. CONNELLY and GEORGE W. RUDOLPH, citizens of the K United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Amusement Apparatus'es, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to amusement apparatuses, and the object thereof is to provide a reliable and inexpensive device which will give the passengers a maximum amount of fun and excitement at a minimum risk.

In the accom anying drawings, illustrating our invention, igure 1 is a plan view of our improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken through the straight portion of the down-track and through one of the cars adapted to run thereon, and on an enlarged scale. Fig.3 is a plan view of a ortion of the track, illustrating the car t ereon in horizontal section. Fig. 4 is a cross-section through the straight portion of the downtrack, illustrating the car in elevation, and, Fig. 5 is a cross-section through the warped portion of the down-track, illustrating the car in elevation, as in Fig. 4.

In the practical embodiment of our invention, we provide an u p-track 5 arranged upon a suitable supporting framework A, shown in Figs. 2 to 5, which framework A serves to support the down-track comprising the warped portion 6 leading at an an le from the upper end of {the up-track, t e straight portion 7 leading at an angle from the lower end of the War ed portion 6, and the tortuous portion 8lea ing from the lower end of the straight ortion 7 and terminating in a lower level en 9 to which a platform 10 leads, for the entrance of passengers thereto;

- The tracks 5, 6, 7, and 8 comprise a base board 11, and continuously extending sides 12, which guide and 'revent the moving cars 13 from jumping o The passenger car for operation upon the track just described, comprises a lower substantially rectangular sup )orting or rolling truck 14 having horizontdl wheelshafts 15 mounted in brackets 16 therebelow,- and provided with wheels 17, journaled thereon for travel upon the base board 11 of the tracks. The truck 14 is also provided in its corners with rollers 18'loosely journaled in a horizontal plane by vertical ins 19, and adapted for engagement with t 1e track sides 12. Mounted upon the truck 14 is afeircular car body 20 of smaller diameter than the said truck. The body 20 is provided with an upper circular edge rail 21, and with a circular padded seat 22, at the base of said rail 21 for the accommodation of the passengers. The body 20 is mounted upon the truck 14 to rotate freely and independently thereof by means of a vertical pivot shaft 23 extending centrally and downwardly through said body and said truck, and through opposing metal plates 24, secured to the adjacent surfaces of said body and said truck and provided with alined circular grooves for the rece )tion of balls 25 forming a freely rotatable caring. The pivot shaft 23 is provided with a circular handle 26 upon its upper end slightly above the level of the seat 22 in order to form a hand hold for the passengers seated uponseat 22, and is rotatable with the body 20, beingloosely mounted through the truck 14.

In operation the cars 13 receiving. passengers at the platform 10 are carried up the track 5 by an endless chain 27 or similar apparatus, and on reaching the top thereof starts upon its downward travel along track 6. In order to produce rotation of the car body 20, the track portion 6 is warped to provide low spots indicated by the shading 28 in Fig. 1, which'low spots cause the entire car 13 to cant slightly and contact its body 20 with the adjacent side 12 of track, whereby the frictional contact causes rotation of said cover. To this end, we provide the car body 20 -with a brake 29 pivotally mounted through the base thereof, and provided with a lower shoe 30 for contact with the upper surface of the truck 1.4 when said brake is moved in the proper direction. Thus as the car enters the upper end of the straight track portion 7, the operator throws on the brake and stops the rotation of the body 20, allowing the occupants to recover during the movement through said straight track por tion and to prepare in a degree for the rotatprovide an inexpensive and reliable track in of car, the sliding movement of which is ing descent through the tortuous track pori tion 8, upon entrance into which, the brake 29 is released to allow of the rotation of the i body 20 by contact with the track sides 12. The track 8 is constructed tortuous for the i' purpose of checking the speedy descent of the cars 13 and for this purpose the windings thereof are at such an angle to one another, and of such number as to check the movement of the said cars to such an extent that they will come to a full stop upon emerging onto the flat portion.- From the foregoing it will be seen that we which novel means are employed to accomplish the rotation of, and to check the car, and that we provide a novel and useful form steady and guided and in which the rotation is in dependent of such sliding movement, and may be stopped when desired, thus rendering the same su perior to the one-body cars which slide and rotate, and also the two-body cars in which the rotation of one body is accommovement of the other body.

Having fully described our invention, we claim: p r

1. In an amusement apparatus of the character described, the combination of a track, and a car for movement thereon, com prising a wheeled non-rotatable truck, a

freely rotatable body disposed upon said truck, a central handle bar for said body, extending downwardly through saidtruck, and forming a rotatable pivot of said body, and a friction brake for said body to check the rotation thereof, adapted for engagement with a portion of said truck, substantially as described.

2. An amusement apparatus of the character described, comprising an up-traek, a downwardly extending track leading from the upper end of said up-track, a rotatable car for travel upon said track, said down- L Wardly extending track being provided with side walls and with warped portions alternately adjacent opposite sides thereof whereby said car is tilted against said side walls to cause rotation thereof, a downwardly extending straight track leading from the lower end of said warped track, and a tortuous downwardly extending track leading from the lower end of said straight track to check the descent of said car and terminating in a 

